


Connoisseurs of Comfort

by poisonedapple



Series: Bardic Inspiration [10]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Campaign 2 (Critical Role), Gen, Mention of Past Animal Death, mention of animal cruelty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-25
Updated: 2018-04-25
Packaged: 2019-04-27 13:21:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14426289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poisonedapple/pseuds/poisonedapple
Summary: Caleb enjoys an afternoon of reading which is momentarily interrupted by Beau's arrival.





	Connoisseurs of Comfort

**Author's Note:**

> Mind those tags
> 
> No spoilers for any episodes

 

Caleb feels something he does not feel quite often - happiness.  Caleb knows there can be no greater comfort than this for him and he will enjoy it while he can.  He's sat down near a warm fireplace in a tavern that is lively but not crowded, the voices of his nearest table neighbors' in pleasant conversation melt into a hush as Caleb beams in sheer satisfaction at the stack of books he'd purchased today - all of them very good finds and the rest of the day to enjoy them.  Selecting the one he wants to read first, pushing to where he can still see them, he settles in with Frumpkin purring and curled around his neck.

 

He is interrupted just as he is turning to page 394 by a mug of beer clinking onto his table.

 

"Do ya mind?"

 

Caleb looks up and jolts, feels his spine go ramrod straight, when his eyes meet Beau's as she stands waiting for his permission to sit with him - one hand on her beer and the other balled into a fist on her hip.

 

Caleb bobs his head behind his book, "Ja, of... of course.  Sit down."  He scooches his chair to the side, despite the only other chair at his table being on the other side of him.

 

Beau drops into the seat in front of him.

 

"Jester took off with Nott into our room and said I wasn't allowed to see what they were up to," Beau explains.  There's a note of something in her voice that Caleb cannot decipher.  "Molly and Fjord are playing with their swords or whatever."

 

"Oh," Caleb says, a bit uneasily.  Yasha had left them a few mornings ago, so Beau did not have to account for her whereabouts because no one really knew that.

 

He waits a bit, to see if Beau will reveal why she'd chosen to sit with him rather than... anything else.  It wasn't like she liked him.  Or anybody really.  But she was an independent woman who didn't really care about anyone or anything that deeply which she often reminded the rest of the group of.  She valued her privacy and time to herself as much as any of them did and she had never chosen to spend a free moment with him before, certainly never for the fun of it.  

 

Beau just picks her drink up and takes a sip and doesn't say anything though so Caleb tries to go back to reading but he feels like he is losing his moment by Beau's presence.  Having Beau near him makes him nervous.  It's ridiculous - he's a grown man and she is only barely an adult, a child in many ways.  Caleb had still been a child at that age, though he'd thought he was as grown up then as Beau did now.  The ten years that separated them was a wide gulf and made her feel like a foreign creature.  He shouldn't be so cowed though, even knowing what she can do to someone with one punch but he is.  Very, very much so.  She reminds him of the older teen-aged boys and girls who had picked on him when he was a child.  He'd always been a bit of a nerd with bones as fragile as glass. 

 

Her eyes are both sharp and irreverent as she looks at him watching her though and he ducks his head back into his book, waiting and watching from the corner of his eyes for Beau's eyes to leave him.  They never do, even when Beau orders them both more beer without asking Caleb if he wanted any himself.

 

Caleb takes a sip of his beer and it's only then that he notices that Beau's eyes are not looking at him but at Frumpkin.  He hesitates and sits on that information for a while.

 

"Would... you like to pet Frumpkin for a while?"  He already feels the thump of Frumpkin's tail flicking angrily at the words, but Beau's eyes light up.

 

"Yeah! Yeah, yeah, I... I mean... yeah, sure.  That's cool with me," Beau says and despite how she tries to play it off cool, her excitement is plain on her face.  She pushes her seat back, making room for Frumpkin on her lap and even shoving her beer to the side, beaming.

 

Caleb only has to give Frumpkin a nudge before his familiar obeys - not entirely happy.  Beau doesn't seem to recognize cat body language, Frumpkin's ears plastered to his head and tail swishing angrily from side to side.  She hadn't been particularly gentle the first time, back when they'd first meant.

 

Caleb bites his lip as Frumpkin settles in her lap and she start petting him down his spine quickly with both hands.

 

"Not," Caleb says a few strokes in and already feeling Frumpkin's absolute disdain.  Beau stops, eyes wide.  "Not, so - uh - hard, perhaps.  Cats prefer a much gentler touch than dogs."

 

"Oh," says Beau.  She looks down to Frumpkin.  Caleb is surprised to hear her say in a low voice to Frumpkin, "Sorry."

 

She resumes petting him, much gentler this time.  Caleb watches her with his cat only a moment before returning to his book and by the time he shuts it and reaches to take his next book Beau had learned to focus petting Frumpkin along his scent glands and places Frumpkin couldn't reach himself.

 

"Y'know," Beau says as Caleb opens his next book.  "I had a cat once.  When I was a kid.  I had to keep it a secret from my parents."  Caleb looks up and watches Beau slowly stroke Frumpkin a while, her face pensive and drawn.  "When my father found out, he killed him in front of me to teach me a valuable lesson."  Her voice is detached, monosyllabic, but then her fingers start scratching on Frumpkin's rump and finally a purr pours out of him and Beau grins widely as she brings the cat closer to her face and nuzzles her face to his as he continues to purr despite himself.  Frumpkin may prefer the form of a cat but Frumpkin has never much liked to purr for anyone but Caleb, so anyone else had to pet him just right to make him unable to hold back.

 

Caleb turns a page, settling back into the comfort of his books, a warm fire, beer, and quiet company for the rest of his evening.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm stuck home sick for a couple more days yet and very bored so for every kudo I get I'll give one of my six cats a treat. Comment and... idk I'll tell my cats your username and that you love them. :p
> 
> edit 4/27/18, i gave my kitties so many treats lmao ty


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